Radio-frequency identification (RF-ID) is, generally, the wireless use of radio frequency to transfer data, for automatically identifying and tracking tags attached to objects.
The tags may contain electronically stored information. Passive tags collect energy from the interrogating electromagnetic field and then act as a passive transponder to emit radio waves. Battery powered tags, on the other hand, may operate at a distance of hundreds of meters.
A tag usually comprises a microchip attached to an antenna that is packaged in a way that it can be applied to an object. A tag picks up signals from and sends signals to a reader. It may contain a unique serial number, but may also have other information, such as a customers' account number. Tags may come in many forms, such smart labels that can have a barcode printed on it, or the tag can simply be embedded in plastic.
RF-ID tags can be active, semi-passive and passive. Passive tags are less expensive to produce, and they can be made small enough to fit on almost any product. Active and semi-passive RF-ID tags use internal batteries to power their circuits. An active tag uses its battery to broadcast radio waves to a reader, whereas a semi-passive tag generally relies on the reader to supply its power for broadcasting. Because these tags contain more hardware than passive RF-ID tags, they are currently more expensive than a pure passive tag.
Currently, active and semi-passive tags are used for more costly items that are read over greater distances. They broadcast high frequencies from 850 to 950 MHz that can be read 100 feet or more away. If it is necessary to read the tags from farther away, additional batteries can boost a tag's range to more than 300 feet. Like other wireless devices, RF-ID tags broadcast over a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The exact frequency is variable and can be chosen to avoid interference with other electronics or among RF-ID tags and readers in the form of tag interference or reader interference. In some implementations, RF-ID systems can use a cellular system called Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) to make sure the wireless communication is handled properly and reduce packets collisions.
Passive RF-ID tags rely entirely on the reader as their power source. These tags are read up to 20 feet away, and they have lower production costs. Usually, these tags are manufactured to be disposable, along with the disposable consumer goods on which they are placed.
As technology advances, different methods have been described to interact with proximate objects using RF-ID technologies. Some disclosures pertain to location-based functionalities such as, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 8,150,439 titled “Facilitating user interactions based on proximity”. Some other disclosure pertain to methods for controlling a target device using another device such as, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 8,504,008 titled “Virtual control panels using short-range communication.” Some other disclosures illustrate an identification and verification system that makes it possible for a user to easily open locks and/or gain entry to secured systems such as, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 8,430,310, titled “Wireless directional identification and verification using wearable electronic devices.”
In another disclosure, such as in patent application US 2012/0178431 A1 filed on Jan. 9, 2012 and entitled “Proximity-Enabled Remote Control”, an invention is described that relates to a system that enables a mobile device to be approximated with an object in order to enable control of said object. In one possible embodiment of US 2012/0178431 A1, a mobile device is brought in physical proximity with an object, the identity of the object is determined wirelessly and, based on such determination, a remote control user interface is presented by the mobile device, wherein said mobile device receives input relating to a desired control action for the object.
In other disclosure such as U.S. Pat. No. 8,127,482 titled “Safety System for Firearms”, a safety system for firearm based on RF-ID technology is described. Said invention is based on an electronic enabling/disabling mechanism that relies on an RF-ID reader embedded in the weapon coupled with an RF-ID tag that allows the unlocking of the safety mechanism under certain conditions.
The person skilled in the art will understand that security and privacy are elements of significance, especially for critical applications involving, for example, weapons, money transaction, paid subscriptions or privacy. With regard to RF-ID technologies EPC Gen2v2 is a new version of the ultrahigh frequency (UHF) EPC Gen 2 standard. EPC Gen2v2 that provides a series of features intended to improve security and deter the counterfeiting of tagged products, by enabling the authentication of a tag or a reader, and includes privacy features for consumers, as well as a way for embedded tags to identify themselves as such to an interrogator. The EPC™ Radio-Frequency Identity Protocols Generation-2 UHF RF-ID (EPC Gen2v2) is available at www.gs1.org.
Gen2v2 enhances security and privacy of RF-ID products by comprising features such as: 1) Untraceable function to hide portions of data, restrict access privileges, and reduce a tag's read range; 2) Support for cryptographic authentication of tags and readers, to verify identity and provenance, as well as reduce the risk of counterfeiting and unauthorized access; 3) Enhanced User Memory for supplementary encodings such as maintenance logging during a product's life cycle; 4) “Non-removable” flag for embedded tagging of electronics and sewn-in tagging of apparel, to indicate that a tag cannot be removed without compromising the tagged product's intended functionality; 5) Hard-coded extended Tag Identifier (XTID) to assist product authenticity and anti-counterfeiting efforts.
The person skilled in the art will understand that some of the implementations described in this application may call for the realization of at least some of the security and privacy features described in the present or future versions of the EPC™ Radio-Frequency Identity Protocols Generation-2 UHF RF-ID (EPC Gen2v2) or other standards that may develop in the future addressing privacy and security.
The person skilled in the art will also appreciate that the contemporaneous presence of more than one tag or more than one RF-ID interrogator in the same location may generate interference issues. The literature discussing this problem is also very extensive. For example, Sayeed M I, Kim Y S, Yang H and Yook J G have suggested a beam-forming approach in their “A Solution to the RF-ID Reader Interference Problem using Adaptive Beam-forming Approach”, published in “IETE Tech Rev 2011” at pages 17-28.
Other solutions are based on software such as the one proposed by Syed S. Rizvi, Eslam M. Gebriel and Aasia Riasat in their “RF-ID: A New Software Based Solution to Avoid Interference” published in “Advances in Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering” 2008 at pages 521-525.
All the patents, patent applications, standards and published documents mentioned in this patent application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Furthermore, where a definition or use of a term in a document that is incorporated by reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.